The Current State of the Healthcare Industry Infographic

The State of Healthcare Report unveiled the disparities, challenges and opportunities of the healthcare industry and its stakeholders today. To gain such insight, HIMSS, along with its Trust partners—Accenture, The Chartis Group and ZS—surveyed more than 2,700 stakeholders, including patients, clinicians, health systems and payer organizations during March and April of 2021. The report focuses on three main areas: digital health, financial health, and artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).

In terms of digital health, most health systems have digital programs, but opportunities still exist to accelerate and expand—4% of health systems reported that they haven’t even begun to develop a digital presence yet.

Clinicians largely agree that digital health tools are here to stay, as evidenced by the fact that 52% of patients have had at least one telehealth visit in the last 12 months. Additionally, 64% of payers reported an accelerated adoption of digital health initiatives coming out of COVID-19.

When it comes to financial health, one in 10 clinicians see their practices in an unstable financial position. Conversely, 51% said their practices are “somewhat stable” and 19% said their practices are “highly stable.”

Payers continue to see healthcare costs rise, 90% of respondents expect healthcare costs to rise over the next few years. While most patients would agree that healthcare costs are too expensive, there are certain demographic groups that feel it more than others. For instance, 86% of women think healthcare is too expensive, but only 74% of men agree, while 84% of those making less than $25,000 felt healthcare costs are too expensive compared to 75% of those making more than $100,000.

Utilization of AI/ML initiatives across the healthcare industry remains in the early stages, but some stakeholders are starting to see the benefits. Payers, specifically, are realizing a return on their investment with AI/ML: Nearly half of respondents reported a significant return, while most of the remaining majority broke even.

Additionally, 68% of health systems believe in investments in AI/ML will need to grow in order to meet enterprise goals, and four in 10 patients see AI/ML as beneficial to humanity.

Read more of the report’s most significant findings in the infographic.

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